Neutral Ground
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day eighty-eight: Kurt ponders the idea of bringing his two worlds together: Glee Club, and Victor. Sequel to Shot of Adrenaline and Long-Distance Duet


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a second cycle, and then a third and fourth cycle. Now here comes cycle 5!_

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**"Neutral Ground"  
Kurt/Victor  
Sequel to "Shot of Adrenaline" and "Long-Distance Duet"**

Kurt had taken it upon himself to… protect Victor from the inquisitors – the whole club, most of all Rachel. There were many reasons for him wanting to be cautious in how he handled the meeting of his two worlds, Glee and Victor.

He and Victor were friends now… great friends, and that was all. It did not mean he wanted it to stay that way. Whether he knew how to admit it to himself yet, Victor had grasped his whole heart. It wasn't as though he was over-familiar with these emotions. He'd felt himself filled with overwhelming love twice in his lifetime.

The first, of course, had been good ol' boy Finn. As the first to go and get his heart thumping with those feelings, he had been difficult to accept as someone he could never have. It didn't matter to him that he was straight and therefore unable to see him as anything more than a friend. He was enamored enough to believe he could somehow sway him to his way of thinking.

When he'd met Victor, it didn't matter how fast his heart would beat, his mind still chanted the anthem to the swaying of Finn Hudson to the other team loud enough to bury it up.

Meeting him had been one thing. As time had gone on, he'd gotten to know him, they'd become friends… Little by little the volume had been turning down in his mind, allowing the heart thumping to grow from a faint hum to a louder one, to a radiating presence… Confirming that Victor, unlike Finn, would need no swaying, had continued to hush the interference, but not completely… that wasn't how it worked.

Victor was the kind of guy who, if he hadn't met him in such a way that confirmed he was very real, he'd probably think was too good to be true. Kind beyond necessity, not at all uninteresting, far from… and not only was he extremely talented with music and dance… he had some kind of a smile that could hardly be described as killer… it was downright murder by smile.

There was just one problem, and it was no small one. As much as it didn't bother him that he was part of Vocal Adrenaline, he knew certain others would not take kindly to it. He wanted to introduce Victor to the others, he really did. But eventually the question would come – how did you meet? And then there it'd be. The words 'Vocal Adrenaline' would come up… He could just imagine Rachel's eyes turning red…

And all that might not have been all that much of a concern except he'd gone and taken an impulse for a spin. Talking with Victor on the phone one night, they'd been discussing… well, he didn't remember anymore. What he did remember was what he'd said near the end of the conversation.

"You should come over to Lima, see what we've got."

All at once he'd felt two emotions. The first one very much wanted him to smack himself upside the head. The other, allied with his heart, wanted to hear him say…

"Sure, sounds good."

He nearly dropped the phone when Victor said it, again responding from the same two emotions.

So the plan was set, and Victor would make the drive in to Lima the next week. Kurt spent that week so distracted with anxious butterflies and the need to figure out how to get around the Rachel issue… they all asked him repeatedly if he was alright… and then, just like that, he'd woken up one morning to realize the day had come: Victor was on his way.

New Directions had a rehearsal in the auditorium that afternoon. He'd instructed Victor on how to get to the small balcony in the dark of the auditorium, where he could watch and not be seen. He'd understood completely why he wanted him to hide, only making Kurt appreciate him so much more.

When he'd stepped out on stage with all the others, Kurt had kept a blank face, but his eyes were sneaking a glance into the dark. He knew where to look, unlike the rest, and he could make out Victor's shape up on the balcony… His heart did somersaults, and the volume plummeted in the Finn camp… Victor was out there, watching him… he would be nothing less than spectacular for him.

As practice had ended, Kurt was trying to think of how to make his exit discreet, as he had to stick around to meet up with…

"What's Victor Haskell doing here?"

He froze at the sound of Rachel's voice – of course she'd know all of Vocal Adrenaline by face and name – and he turned to see. Victor was walking up the aisle toward the stage. Kurt wasn't sure what to do, say… He stood as he was, waiting to see what would happen. Rachel walked down the steps and up to stand in front of Victor.

"Rachel, right?" Victor started. "Nice to finally meet you. Officially, I mean," he gave a polite smile and extended his hand. "Victor," he introduced himself.

Rachel looked at him, then back over her shoulder to the group on stage. Her eyes found Kurt somehow when she saw the hope and the nervousness on his face… and she knew what was going on. She turned back to the boy, still with his hand out, and she observed him not as Vocal Adrenaline but as a friend of Kurt's. Finally, she breathed out and put her hand in to shake Victor's.

"Nice to meet you too… officially." He smiled, his eyes moving to find Kurt, who looked… stunned. Victor laughed… and that was it. Everyone moved to file out, some nodding to, some shaking hands with Victor as they passed. As Mercedes came along, she and the boy had a meeting of another kind. Mercedes gave him a smile when he correctly identified her as…

"Mercedes Jones. Kurt's mentioned you a lot." She nodded.

"He hasn't figured you out yet, has he?" Victor looked confused. "You like him." His eyes absently moved to Kurt, a distance away. He looked back to Mercedes. "Just be good to him, alright? He deserves it," she raised her head. Victor smiled, nodded in understanding.

"He does." Mercedes nodded.

"Well okay. See you around," she smiled as she left. A moment later, Kurt finally came up.

"That was not what I expected," he spoke, thinking of the Rachel meet.

"It was what I expected. You were great," Victor nodded, and Kurt smiled.

"Let's get out of here."

THE END


End file.
